


We May Not Be An Actual Family, But We’ll Care For You Like One

by OasisLake76



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Gen, I’m not sorry for Ash, Migraines are big bitches, Rated Teen and Up because of cursing, S U F F E R, thats really just it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23625886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OasisLake76/pseuds/OasisLake76
Summary: Ash get’s really nasty migraines. He was hit unexpectedly by one during a League event right after he came home from Kalos, he should have known though. Not a single migraine had hit him during his entire Kalos journey, one was definitely winding up to kick him squarely in the ass. Now he’s stuck in a deserted hall trying to stifle his crying while in pain.
Relationships: Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Kanna | Lorelei, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Melony, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Shiba | Bruno, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Wataru | Lance
Comments: 7
Kudos: 166





	We May Not Be An Actual Family, But We’ll Care For You Like One

**Author's Note:**

> Things to note: 
> 
> 1) Ash is around 19-20   
> 2) everyone, besides Agatha, see’s Ash as a little brother more than anything else and they get really protective when he gets hurt  
> 3) Lance is technically ten years older then Ash, it isn’t really stated in the fic he just is.

Ash can barely hear his ragged breathing over the six lines of jumbled up thought. It also doesn’t help that he’s having a panic attack, a mild one but for Ash is it really mild to the average person who hasn’t faced Gods and had to keep a level head so everyone could survive? 

Head tucked between his knees and arms wrapped around the back of his head and neck, Ash’s feet kept pushing against the cold tile floor of an abandoned hallway. Far away from the sounds of the ballroom and the hundreds of guests milling through and talking to each other. Ash should be in there, should be representing Alola and the Orange Archipelagos, but everything is just so loud. 

Ash’s head throbbed as his thoughts continued to pick up even more speed. It felt like they were shouting down at Ash, trying to grab and pull his attention towards one of them and he’s split in six directions. Fingers scrambling against the back of his head, definitely messing up his tamed hair. Lorelei and Agatha are gonna be pissed at him if Ash doesn’t fix this mess. 

“Fuck!” He spat. Fat tears rolling down his cheeks and landing on the floor below. 

“Now a Champion should say such foul language,” a thick heavy accent spoke up, spooking Ash and making him lurch up and bang his shoulder against the wall, “but from what I’m guessin’ it’s well deserved.” 

Ash’s glazed eyes finally focused onto a tall woman, dressed in a nuce white dress and a fake Alolan Ninetails fur scarf… thing rapped around the back of her neck. “I’m sorry,” Ash started before the woman raised a hand for Ash to stop. 

Sinking down to her knees with a few grunts the woman looked back at Ash again. “Names Melony, I’m a Gym Leader from Galar. I saw you come out of the bathroom and tell Champion Lance something before darting off into one of the hallways.” 

Ash let out a weak laugh before flinching as his head throbbed once more. “I get bad migraines,” Ash hissed through his fangs, “it completely knock me off and out of commission, I was hoping one wouldn’t hit me tonight but I was due for one of these stupid monsters for a while now.” 

Melony made something between a small gasp and a coo, turning to rustle through her purse which Ash just noticed that was by her side. It was a few minutes until Melony mumbled an  _ ‘ah-ha!’ _ Before producing a small but familiar metallic sheet. She flipped it over and a few green bulbs protected by plastic shone in the hall’s dim light. 

“I know it’s not much,” Melony drawled as she started to pop three out into one of the palms of her hand, “but this might help you just a little.” He offered her hands with the Advil out to Ash.

Ash eyed the palm. Weary because he’s been in this situation before and got drugged by one of Sinnoh's chairmen, boy did Brock start spitting fire when he spotted said chairmen trying to drag Ash out of the ballroom discreetly. 

“Raihan, our strongest Gym Leader in Galar, is the same way,” Melony spoke up softly, looking at Ash with warm amused eyes, “he’s about the same age as you, maybe a few years older, and the main reason why I carry so much Advil and other medication on me. He gets hit out of nowhere without warning by a raging Migraine and he’s out for two whole days.” 

“Oh.” Ash breathed. He’s met Raihan before, a really kind and funny guy. Tall as fuck too. They actually talked about their migraines when Ash made a throw away comment about finally finishing one that clung onto him for about four days. “Uh, thank you.” Ash said. Reaching out and shakily grabbing the pills out of Melony’s surprisingly cold hands. 

Melony was about to suggest that she should probably get a cup of water or juice for the boy to swallow the pills with but she was cut off when Ash tipped his head back a bit and down the Advil in seconds. “Well you don’t waste time I see,” Melony tried to joke, “It takes forever to get Raihan to take any kind of medicine, he doesn't like the taste of anything their coated with.” 

Ash made a face, “I don’t either.” He coughed into his arm even though he tried to stifle a small giggle. The thought of Galar’s strongest Gym Leader scrunching up his face and refusing to take a simple pill is a little amusing to Ash. He regretted coughing and giggling milliseconds after, doubling forward with a choked back sob as once more a wave of pain hit him. 

“Poor thing,” Melony muttered. Ash’s eyes blazed with indignation, he hated when adults looked down at him… which happens a lot more than Ash would normally like and that expectation is at zero. 

Ash was expecting Melony to say goodbye and get up and leave, but she stayed but on her knees. Pulling her phone out and started typing away. It wasn’t until a few minutes later did Ash finally speak up, feeling his pain starting to ebb just a little. “Who are you testing Miss Melony?” Ash asked.

“Oh Lorelei asked where I went and if I’d happen to see you,” Melony gently explained, still careful with the volume of her voice, “I was just telling her I went after you because you looked like you were about to keel over.” 

_ Ain’t that the truth, _ Ash thought. That was just the normal vibe that comes with having body stopping migraines. Ash but a little more effort into sorting through the jumbled up mess that is his brain and wait… Lorelei never really cared about Ash and his migraines since… well since he started being the Champion to the Orange Archipelagos, why would she now? Ash made his question known to Melony and the woman huffed. 

“You’ve got the entire Kanto league up in worry, Lance and that Brock boy especially, it’s slowly starting to affect everyone else because Lorelei is messaging everyone she knows if they’ve seen you.” Melony grumbled while jabbing her thumbs against her phone screen. “You got Lance and a Professor named Kukui in a dizzy as well. Both are almost frantically looking for you. 

“Fucking shit!” Ash hissed. Ignoring Melony’s reprementing voice, Ash slowly slid up the wall. Swaying dangerously and flicking hard when the doors down the farthest side of the hallway swung open with a loud bang against the walls. “Fuck!” Ash whimpered pathetically this time, sinking back to his knees and hunching his shoulders while covering his ears with his hands, “too loud, everything’s too loud.” 

Ash didn’t get to see who all came rushing through since his back was facing the doors, but he did feel a hand that he guessed was Melony’s resting on his back gently. Her voice snarled something unintelligible to Ash but it must have stopped whoever was pounding this way. A different hand, one much warmer and bigger then Melony’s, drifted from the bottom of Ash’s back to the top and nudged Melony’s hand off. 

“Who?” Ash slurred so quietly it felt like the words barely left his lips. 

“Hey buddy,” Lance’s voice came out in a panic whisper, “you had us all worried there for a while.” 

“I gave him some Advil a little while ago, no less than at least half an hour. It looks like his head was feeling much better when I found him.” Melony explained off to somewhere to the front of Ash. Lance thanked her and told Melony that Rose and Leon were looking for her as well. 

Lance turned his attention back to Ash and placed his other hand on Ash’s back. Slinging up so one of his sides was pressing into Ash’s. “How are you feeling, kid?” Lance asked. 

“Why do  _ you _ care?” Ash snapped suddenly, “this is the first time you’ve ever asked me about my migraines before.” 

Lance winced and took a deep inhale of breath from topping himself from raising his voice at Ash.  _ “Because _ you’re usually on top with that stuff, this is the first time you came up to me and babbled about feeling like your head is filling up with lava and Goomy slime before jerking away and running down a few hallways without another word.” 

Ash flinched once more, he didn’t really remember what he actually said to Lance before fleeing and then slumping down into the hallway to start crying in pain. “Sorry.” Ash sobbed. Leaning into Lance instead of away. “Everything hurts and I can’t even tell one line of thought from another out of six, let alone words I’m actually saying.” 

“Let’s get you back to the castle.” Lance muttered. Pulling out his phone and presumably texting the other Elite Four that they were leaving. “It’s about your bed time anyways.” 

Ash wanted to laugh sarcastically. Just right into Lance's face giving the golden opportunity he’s given right now. But Ash could only shift and move his hands from his ears to over Lance’s shoulders. “Please,” Ash sobbed, “everything too loud.” 

“We’ll tackle the back way then.” Lance sounded a bit more panicked. “Lean more into me, I’m gonna pick you up now.” 

Ash did just that, heavily leaning into Lance and gasping when he was smoothly lifted into the air. The sound and motion had his head spinning even more and it felt like he was gonna puke. Tears were still falling from his eyes as Lance started to whisper calming things and praises for being so strong until Lance found him. Walking was a  _ nightmare. _ With every dip and heave Ash’s head was left bobbing and stomach churning. 

“Hurts!” Ash sobbed and tried burying his head into Lance’s shoulder. 

“I bet,” the Kanto Champion murmured, “we’re almost there just another five minutes.” That made Ash sob again. Five minutes was way too long!

The car ride ended up being even worse. The shaking of the motor and just the overall sound almost had Ash going into a completely sobbing and snot messy meltdown. Like that would help his aching head as well. Ash was thankful of the Advil Miss Melony gave him, he truly was, it just didn’t help at all. 

Ash tried his hardest to keep his sobs and hiccups at bay as Lance quickly picked Ash up and out of the car, Lorelei and Bruno frantically following right behind the two, and made his way up the stairs to Ash’s room. 

Pikachu’s head shot up when, if not for Lorelei getting to the door first, Lance briskly walked into the room with a quietly sobbing Ash. The mouse Pokémon made room for his trainer on the spacious bed and hopped down near the bed. Quietly chittering in worry to the other humans. No one answered him so Pikachu slapped his tail onto the fluffy bedding once and then crawled back up to Ash, careful of the noise he was making since this had happened more than once of course. 

“Where is it!” Lance hissed under his breath. Frantically searching through Ash’s medical cabinet in the adjacent bathroom to his large room. The Johtonese Champion knew that Ash used some kind of shot and medical patch to keep his migraines down when they rear their ugly head. Lance didn’t even notice he was looking in the completely wrong spot until Bruno huffed in annoyance and shuffled by Lance through the bathroom doorway and started searching in the bottom left drawer that was nowhere near the medical cabinet. 

Bruno soon pulled out a discreet white box from the back of an over crowded drawer of anything feminine ranging from small on the go tampons to something of a size five pad. It easily blended in with all the white and other colorful packaging in said drawer. “Remember,” Bruno rumbled, a bit threateningly while sending a slight cold glare at Lance’s slightly gawked face, “Ash may have gone through chest surgery but he hasn’t gone through any kind of sex surgery yet, so he still gets periods even if he’s taking testosterone. That aside I know that he keeps spares for his female friends and sometimes Lorelei.” 

“Bruno!” Lorelei hissed. Cheeks red in embarrassment before she turned back to Ash who’s trying to roll over onto his side and suffocate himself via a large black fluffy pillow. 

“What ever.” Lance grumbled and snagged the box out of Bruno’s open hand. Walking back over to Ash who was starting to sob again because of the Advil wearing off, Lance will continue to forever curse Ash's extremely strong body systems because Ash can never stay under even with the strongest type of meds, sliding the cover off the box and pulling out the instructions and everything else. 

“My mom uses the same one,” Lorelei mumbled, reaching out and taking the little bottle that held some kind of strange purple liquid and the needle “you need to inject this in the upper part of your left leg and then use a lidocaine patch to cover it.” 

Lance grumbled under his breath. Unable to stop himself from twitching as his eyes narrowed onto the needle, he was never the one for shots and needles in general but this was for Ash and he needs to be here for him. Without instructions Lance reached out and gently pried apart Ash’s legs that were curled together. Unable to stop his hands from gently petting the inside of the younger Champions thighs as he shushed Ash’s groans and sobs. The kid was definitely going through a rough one. Lance had never seen a migraine this bad before. 

“We need to remove his pants.” Lorelei muttered. She poked the needle through the mesh covering of the bottle after unscrewing the cap. 

Bruno, who was behind Lance, immediately put his hands up in mock surrender. “Not it.” 

“Lance.” Lorelei looked up from the bottle. 

“Why me?” He hissed 

“Because I’ll probably rip his pants off and no one needs to see that and it might cause him even more pain since you get those pants with the sturdy seems in them.” Bruno snarked back. 

“Lance,” the ice type trainer was more stern, “this is for Ash, I can’t let go of the syringe and Bruno’s fingers are also too big to even try unbuttoning Ash’s pants.” 

Ash let out a particularly loud sob. “Too loud!” He whined. 

“Sorry honey,” Lorelei soothed, “Lance is just being a big ol’ wussy.” 

“Am not.” Lance grumbled 

“Are to,” Lorelei shifted closer and onto more of Ash’s bed, “now shuck his pants off and lets get this over with so Ash can sleep.” 

It took a bit of work. Bruno was actually pulled in with helping hold Ash’s lower back of the bed as Lance worked Ash’s pants down. Ash was thrown into another sobbing first and even started to push and wiggle away from the older adults, begging to be left alone and that he felt too overstimulated with everyone touching and surrounding him. Lance was trying his best to be gentle but he was only able to get it down to his knees when Bruno’s wrists started cramping from the position enough that he had to set Ash back down on the bed and back up. Rubbing his wrists while frowning in worry. 

“Lorelei just do it!” Lance hissed while spreading Ash’s bare thighs as much as he can with the pants still being an obstacle. She almost lunged at the opportunity since Ash had started up flailing again right after ordering Lance to hold his legs down. 

Ash made a pained sound when Lorelei stuck the needle into his inner thigh, crying out when the woman pressed the syringe a little too hard then called for in panic. Both her and Lance shushed him. The Kanto Champion passed one of the lidocaine patches over to Lorelei in preference of soothingly petting Ash’s stomach and his lower left knee. Soon after Lorelei secured the patch on she was able to help get the rest of Ash’s clothes off. 

Lance was a bit surprised how quickly the serum started to work. Ash still whined but it was much quieter and he wasn’t sobbing now so the older Champion counted that as a win in his book. Ash ended up getting redressed in just a sleeping shirt that looked at least four sizes too big on him and tucked into bed under the big fluffy covers. Pikachu decided that now was a good time to creep closer and settle near Ash’ legs instead of near his head. 

“I’ll stay with him,” Lance muttered, looking down at the now dozing off young adult, “in case he wakes up and needs something afterwards.” 

“He’s gonna need another shot and a patch in a few hours, probably near one or three in the morning with how strong his system is and how terrible the migraine is as well,” she looked over to Lance while stroking her hand through Ash’s fluffy hair, Lorelei sent a sharp teasing glare to Lance who was also staring down at the boy, “are you able to handle the syringe and needle?” 

Lance didn’t even hesitate swinging an arm out and cuffing Lorelei on the side of her head. The woman laughed and sprung from the bed and out the door, Bruno was long gone and was probably checking on Agatha, down the hallway and heading back to her own branch of the castle. 

“Fucker.” Lance grumbled under his breath. He looked back over to Ash, who had his mouth open a little and was finally asleep. Reaching over, Lance gently closed Ash’s mouth and wasn’t surprised when Ash’s head fell against Lance’s hand. “What are we going to do with you?” Lance hummed. Unable to keep the smile off his face as he settled down next to Ash and Pikachu above the covers for a long, sleepless night. 


End file.
